Strings
by DarkPoisonousLove
Summary: Regina does her best to weave David in her net but it leads them to a fate that neither one of them has expected and leaves them tangled in each other and in the mess they made. Canon Divergence in 1x20 "The Stranger". Written for Evil Charming Week 2019 Day 1. Rated T for mentions of sexual situations (not explicit).


**A/N: Here's my entry for Day 1 - David didn't leave after Regina made him lasagna. Sorry this is late but I had exams that I had to study for. Hope you'll enjoy. Reviews are greatly appreciated.**

She'd underestimated him. He'd had the common sense to pull away when she'd tried to kiss him. But that would hardly be enough to save him from her clutches.

He was spilling apologies and lamenting his poor judgment but all she could hear was the sound of an opportunity to take him away from Snow for good. It could be her last one and she had to grab at it. Her own family had broken apart. The least she could do was take theirs down too.

"David," she interrupted his awkward rambling, causing his blue eyes–wide and uncertain–to find her face. "Fate sent me to give you another chance at life. Maybe it's time _you_ gave _me_ one." It came out sincere enough even though what she was really begging for was another chance to destroy him and his precious True Love completely.

He was looking at her, caught up in the spell of her words. One simple mention of fate and he was all ears, waiting for someone to shed some clarity amidst all the confusion. And the best part was that that naive romanticism wasn't even an added trait from the Curse. His own character held him captive in the little fairytale fantasy she was building around him.

"I know things are a mess right now," though he didn't even have a clue about it, "but we don't have to rush. We could go with the flow, leave it to fate and see where it takes us," she used her magic word and it worked like a charm. Maybe it called to the memories of him and Snow buried deep down, or maybe it was something entirely different that required a lot more knowledge of him as a person than she had to decipher, but it didn't matter. She had him exactly where she wanted him and she knew it for he didn't move away when she leaned in. "No strings attached," she whispered against his lips and captured them in a kiss.

She had to hold herself back from smiling into it. He was all hers now. He might have broken a curse with True Love's kiss but he had no defense when the kiss and the curse were one and the same. She knew how to make men she despised believe she desired them. And David was very alluring as the center of her revenge.

He kissed back, entranced by her passion, and kept doing so as they climbed up the stairs, still tangled into each other, barely parting for air before attacking each other again even more hungrily. His hands found the zipper of her dress and she shivered at the sound it made when he pulled it down, the sound of her victory.

They fell in bed, getting tangled in all the strings around them – invisible to him, but Regina could see them clearly. Their families, their titles, their entire lives. Everything was at stake and they were losing it all. As they climbed towards pleasure, they were crashing down faster than ever before, but her desperation and his confusion were too thick to see through, clouding their judgment enough to make them cross the line to the point of no return.

* * *

His first thought was about Snow. About how he'd betrayed her. Memories flooded his mind. Memories of Regina writhing in pleasure beneath him as he panted on top of her, pushing them both towards ecstasy. The reality of what had happened that night in her mansion hit him so hard that he couldn't move. And when Snow found him and threw herself in his arms, he hugged her tightly, but all he could remember was Regina's skin against his.

He wanted to tell her, confess everything to Snow and beg her forgiveness, but it wasn't just them anymore. Everything was chaos and pandemonium after the Curse broke. And then there was Emma. And Henry. Emma was having a hard enough time accepting the truth about them already, and Henry was so enthusiastic about them being his grandparents and sharing True Love. He'd break their hearts.

It made him pause and then it was too late. They had to go and save Regina. He had half a mind to spill everything and slow them down enough to give the angry mob a chance to kill her. After all, no one would've gone after her if she didn't deserve it. But that meant losing his family too, and he just got them back.

So they saved Regina from the mob and then saved her again from the wraith, and the only good feeling he'd had all day was when he'd turned the key of her cell door. But she was out again, there was no door to hold her back thanks to the wraith, and Emma was ready to save her life thanks to Henry. And Regina had the audacity to look at him in disbelief and outrage when he wasn't quick to jump to rescuing her as if she didn't deserve what was coming for her.

But the look on her face was nothing compared to the one Snow gave him when he suggested them to let Regina die. She looked at him as if she couldn't recognize him, as if he wasn't the man she'd fallen in love with. And he wasn't. Regina had made sure of it. And there they were, saving her again when all she ever did was take from them until there was nothing left to take.

She did it again. She took Snow and Emma from him. He hadn't said a thing about the night he'd spent with her, and yet, they were gone, fallen through a portal that led who knows where. And it was all her fault.

He should've told them. It would've changed everything but it would've been better that way. At least they'd still be there, and Regina would've been the one to pay the price. Instead, he was stuck in that world with no way of finding them and he had to listen to Regina spitting venom in his face.

She dared him to kill her as if he wouldn't do it. As if the sudden spurt of magic could save her life. But it wasn't enough. He could destroy her life and he didn't need magic to do that.

He lunged forward and captured her lips in a searing kiss. It was his turn to take from her. He'd take the information he needed from her and he'd take her breath, leaving her unable to speak anymore.

"Mom?" Henry's shocked voice cut through his thoughts.

"David?" Ruby joined his grandson.

He had no time to break the kiss before Regina's magic teleported them, nor did he want to. He knew the betrayal on their faces would stop his onslaught and save Regina from his wrath again, so he just let her take him away.

Her magic fizzled out and they had an abrupt landing in her bedroom, stumbling into her bed. She held on to him, silent tears spilling down her face, and it looked like he'd finally managed to shut her up. She seemed afraid to let him go–he was all she had left–but he wasn't going anywhere. She was all he had left.

Hands pulled hastily at clothing and hearts got sliced into pieces by all the strings around them, but his anger and her helplessness made them unseeing and uncaring, all the ruination they'd caused each other forgotten in favor of a few blissful moments that would only get them further entangled in the mess they'd made together.


End file.
